MIDDLESBROUGH may be without Colin Cooper and Brian Deane for tonight's Premiership clash at fellow strugglers Leicester City.

Cooper and Deane picked up calf and groin injuries respectively and manager Steve McClaren will make a late decision on whether to include the pair.

After recording his first League win in management against West Ham on Saturday, McClaren is now hoping his players can continue in the same form at Filbert Street.

But the former Boro boss is not taking anything for granted and he knows there is still a lot of work to be done.

"Leicester is always a difficult place to go to and they had a tremendous win at rivals Derby over the weekend," said McClaren, who is already without striker Alen Boksic.

"They will go into the game on a high after that victory but we have also had a good win so it will be interesting."

Boro enjoyed a comfortable 2-0 victory over West Ham at the Riverside on Saturday and McClaren is delighted to see the work on the training ground paying off.

"We will get a lot of chances and we are trying to get the team to play a certain way," he said.

"That way is not going to come overnight and the win over West Ham is just a small step to where we want to be.

"We are going to have hiccups along the way but we have just got to make sure that we get over them.

"It is going to take time. But on Saturday we got a 90-minute performance. We had a 45- minute performance against Newcastle but the work we have put in came off against West Ham."

Only 25,445 fans turned up to see Boro earn their first three points of the season, a record low for a top-flight game held at the Riverside.

But, although disappointed with the figure, McClaren is convinced that the supporters will return once he has the exciting performances he craves.

"What I want to bring here is the kind of football that will fill the stadium," said McClaren.

"That has to be and will always be my ambition - to entertain the crowd, score goals and create chances.

"It is up to myself to provide that and for the team to provide the entertainment for them to come back."

Meanwhile, Boro await the outcome of their appeal over South African forward Benni McCarthy's work permit.

He has agreed terms over a nine-month loan deal but his application has been rejected.

McClaren said: "We will know by Tuesday."

l Former Boro boss Bryan Robson has been linked with the vacant manager's job at Coventry City.

Robson, who has returned to Manchester United in a coaching capacity, is one name on Coventry's list of candidates to succeed the departed Gordon Strachan.

The former England skipper has been out of the spotlight since leaving Boro in June.

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